A community forum for Bletchley – past, present and future

Archive for January, 2016

It all began in the friendliest possible way. Bletchley Council wanted part of some back gardens for a road-widening scheme and the residents were prepared to make way. But somehow negotiations with ‘some’ private house owners went badly wrong!

In 1971 the postman first delivered the news to house owners, however two years later the stand-off remained and the Council lost their patience. In August ’73 the Council informed residents that work must begin and workmen would start to lay sewer pipes. The workmen moved in but when they had finished, the residents found to their surprise that pieces of their garden they had been negotiating over had gone, along with fences and walls.

Sandringham Place residents protest!

The police were called and they said they were powerless to do anything. Now residents were being hurried along so that the ground could be compulsorily purchased.

Meanwhile, the residents waited to see what happens next – and this may be the return of the workmen.

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It would be interesting to know if the residents of Sandringham Place did get treated fairly in 1973 over the loss of their gardens!

Forty-three years on though we are still faced with unwanted planning decisions, the present Government’s house building programme unfortunately will upset many, much the same as happened in Sandringham Place all those years ago.

A few weeks ago I posted a photograph of the Eight Bells public house.

Looking through our archive I’ve found this one (below) and find it quite interesting. The reason being the photograph was captioned Hopcraft and Norris Brewers, you can see this building in the middle of the photograph. When I was a child I knew this particular building as Daniel’s Corner Shop, never believing that the building was once a brewery. There used to be a brewery in Fenny Stratford but I had no idea there was one opposite the Eight Bells. Does anybody have any history on this, if so I would be interested to hear?

Hopcraft and Norris Brewers!

For those a little unsure of its location, well it’s on the opposite corner to the Eight Bells. Looking past the brewery you can see a row of cottages on the left, at the end of these you can just about see Freeman Memorial Methodist Church.

One of the much-loved teachers at Bletchley Road Secondary Modern School in the ’50s was Mr Ralph Cross; he used to teach Biology, travelling into school from Whaddon every day where he lived. There were two things if I remember that he was extremely good at, one that he was an ‘excellent’ gardener and used to participate in a lot of local garden shows, the other that he was a ‘great’ local cricketer. This became evident when the school cricket team played the teachers!